Trolley-pole holder for street cars



R. REGOPULOS.

TROLLEY POLE HOLDER FOR STREET CARS.

APPucmoN HLED DEC. 8. 1921.

./ W INVENTOR.

Wm. %EY5.

UNITED STATES REGAS REGOPULOS, OF MILWAUKEE, WISCONSIN.

TROLLEY- IOLE HOLDER FOR STREET CARS.

Application filed December 8, 1921.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, RncAs Rnoormios, a citizen of Greece, residing at Milwaukee, county of Milwaukee, and State of W isconsin, have invented new and useful Improvements in Trolley-Pole Holders for Street Cars, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to improvements in overhead trolleys for electric railways.

The object of my invention is to provide more effective means for preventing injury to the cross wires and stays of an overhead system, when the trolley accidentally leaves the conducting wire. V

It is also my object to provide means whereby the trolley wheel may be safely held against violent or extensive upwardly swinging movement, thus making it possible to employ, in connection with such wheels, a set of swinging weighted guards adapted to reduce the danger of the wheel leaving the wire and to facilitate replacing it without injury'to the system in case it becomes accidentally disengaged.

A further object is to provide a trolley pole with a retainer which is so connected with the car as to allow the lower end of the retainer to follow the pole when the latter swings laterally relatively to the car, thus making it possible to employ a retainer of minimum length, and in fact of substart tially equal length to the maximum vertical distance between the top of the car and the conducting wire at the cross stays.

In the drawings:

Figure 1 is a perspective view of an up per portion of a street railway or train car equipped with my invention;

Figure 2 is an end view of the same.

Figure 3 is an enlarged view of the trolley. V I H Figure l is a detail showing a IllOCllllGCl. connecting carriage for the retainer.

Like parts are identified by the samereference characters throughout the several views.

The turn table or connector 1, trolley pole 2, trolley wheel 8, and control rope 4:, may be of any ordinary construction and specific illustration, and description is therefore deemed unnecessary.

But in addition tothe control rope 4 1 employ a retainer 6 preferably also comprising a rope, and which connects the trolley pole to the deck of the car, but travels from Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Mar. '7, 1922.

Serial No. 520,863.

side to side when necessary to keep the point of such connection as nearly as possible directly underneath the portion of the wire engaged by the trolley wheel, in order that the retainer of the required length may be used without pulling the trolley wheel from the wire when turning corners. This result is accomplished by providing the deck 7 of the car. with a bar or rail 8 preferably arcuatc and supported from the deck 7 in a horizontal or slightly arched position by end posts 9. and along which a rod engaging pulley or carriage 10 may travel, the retainer rope 6 being secured to the top portion 11 of this carriage at its lower end, and to the trolley pole 2 at its upper end.

In place of the single wheeled pulley or carriage 10 I preferably employ a carriage 13 provided with two wheels 14 and 15, disposed in tandem. asv shown in Figure 4, for the reason that such a carriage travels more freely and steadily than at single wheel. In either case, a small pulley or roller 16 is dis posed in the crown of the wheel supporting fork 17 with the rod or bar 8 embraced between the wheel and its associated roller 16 to prevent disengagement and lessen friction.

In combination with the track way, and carriage thereon, it becomes possible to provide a retainer of a length substantially equal to the vertical distance between a point on the rail and. the point at which the retainer is connected with the trolley pole when the trolley wheel is at its highest wire engaging point. Therefore the slack of the retainer will seldom exceed the vertical distance that the wire sags between supports, and even this slack may be taken up by having the rail slightly raised or arched in its central portion to allow the carriage to run toward one side or the other, when the re taining rope becomes slack. The pull of the carriage in such cases will be negligible so far as its effect on the trolley pole is con cerned. If the trolley wheel leaves: the conducting wire, my improved retainer prevents it from rising above the stay wires, and even if it projects above a sagging wire between the stay wires this can do no harm. The transversely traveling connection with the car deck makes this possible, without pulling the trolley wheel from the wire, when the pole is in alposition oblique to the longitudinal center line of the car.

By providing means for holding the trolley wheel substantially at tlus level of the cross stays which support the conducting wire, it becomes possible to utilize a trolley wheel having weighted guards 1S pivotally mounted on the trolley wheel'sha'ft 19.

The upper portions oi? these guards hav inner surfaces 2-0, which diverge outwardly. Their lower portions have weights 21, which tend to hold the upper portions in a vertically extending position, while allowing them to swing and pass under a wire when brought in contact with it. Attempts to use such guard without adequate means for holding the trolley wheel down at substantially the proper level at the stay wires have so far as I am aware been unsuccessful heretofore, for the reason that they are apt to catch and cut or break the stays. But they can be successfully used in combination with my improved pole retaining means.

I claim 1. The combination with the deck of an electric street car provided with a trolley pole, of a Substantially horizontal rail sup ported in a raised position therefrom, a carriage adapted to engage and travel along said rail, and a flexible retainer connecting the carriage to the trolley pole. i

2. The combination with the deck of an electric street car provided with a trolley pole, of a substantially horizontal rail supported in a raised position. therefrom, a car-- riage adapted to engage and travel along said rail, and a flexible retainer connecting the carriage to the trolley pole, said rail being 'arcuate in form to allow the carriage to travel substantially in the arc, in which the upper end of the retainer swings.

The combination with the deck of an electric street car, provided with a yieldingly supported under running trolley pole and wheel, of connecting means between the pole and. the deck oi the car, adapted for bodily movement laterally of the deck in correspondence with relative lateral swinging movement of the pole.

4-. The combination with the deck of an electric street car provided with an underrunning trolley pole and wheel, of a set of wheel guards pivotally mounted at the sides of the wheel and provided with upwardly projecting divergent arms, weights carried by the guards below'their pivotal mountings, and means for holding the trolley pole guards and wheel from rising materially above the level of the conducting wire cross stays, said holding means being adapted for bodily lateral movements in correspondence with the relative lateral movements of the trolley spole.

REGAS REGOPULOS. 

